Chapter 26
RAUL
The hit goes off clean thanks to Diego, and the payout hits my account almost before the blood dries.
Cash flows fast, stacks of it bulging the duffel on my couch like a dirty secret.
But relief never comes. Just guilt, heavy and cold, sinking into my chest like wet concrete, making every breath feel borrowed and wrong.
The whole operation is already fraying at the edges, threads pulling loose faster than I can knot them back.
That blonde girl, the mark's assistant who knew too much, now has homicide detectives circling her like sharks, pegging her as the prime suspect.
On paper it should be simple: let her swing, tie off the evidence, walk away clean.
Except Diego's gone and fallen deep, his voice softening at her name while his jaw locks when I probe.
Turning a straight and easy job into emotional quicksand.
He has her now in one of Dad's storage units outside of town, chained and under watch.
A move meant to buy us time and silence, but it's backfiring hard, tightening the noose around all our necks instead of loosening it.
What the hell else can blow up in my face?
I've been burning up favors with Marco, my old buddy at the station.
He feeds me scraps on the investigation: witness statements, tips, heat maps of patrols near the site.
Anything to keep my family's name off their radar.
Every solid lead, I slip to Diego, just enough to help him out of this fucking mess.
Truth is uglier than that. Someone has to bleed for this body, or the badges won't quit sniffing.
I won't let it be my cousin. Not Diego, who pulled me out of more scraps than I can count, blood of my blood.
Even if this girl's got him twisted up, whispering her name in his sleep like some lovesick fool.
I've pictured it a dozen times: anonymous tip, her name dropped straight to homicide.
I've watched it play out in my head, cuffs on her wrists.
Floated it to Diego once, casual as ordering tacos.
He shut it down so fast, his eyes going dead like I'd suggested killing his own kin.
And yeah, she'd flip on us in a heartbeat if cornered, drag every storage unit and ghost drop into the light. Pointless.
Unless she didn't talk. Unless she washed up dead somewhere, another Miami mystery.
The thought curls black in my gut, tempting like cheap whiskey. She's dead weight, liability in heels, but cutting her loose would gut Diego. If he feels a fraction for her what I do for Olivia, no. I shove it down deep. Can't go there. I won't.
My head spins in circles trying to figure out what the fuck I should do.
Then my phone vibrates in my pocket. It's been going off all day, but I've ignored everyone who isn't blood.
Olivia's name lights up my screen.
Fourteen texts. Three missed calls.
Fuck.
She never stops. She can't take the hint that I'm busy with more serious shit right now.
Her yellow Bug appears right on cue, as if my avoidance summoned her, gravel crunching under tires like brittle bones. She climbs out cautious at first, then hardens herself with that false swagger, curls tangled wild in the thick dusk air, eyes already sparking defiance from across the lot.
I open the door before she reaches it.
"What's up?" I say, blowing out a puff of smoke. I've been chain-smoking all day just to keep the edge off.
"Ew." She plucks the cigarette straight from my lips, tosses it to the dirt, and crushes it under her heel with deliberate flair. "What the fuck, Raul?"
"I'm stressed." My shrug lands half-mocking, a brittle shield snapping into place.
Olivia rolls her eyes and walks past me into the trailer. Her gaze skims over the bag of money on my couch, and I feel my stomach drop.
Thank God that's not a conversation for today. I do not have the energy to explain that one.
She drops onto my rumpled bed instead, curls springing free, tank top hiking to bare that smooth caramel strip of skin I've mapped a hundred times in the dark.
I settle beside her, the heat from her thigh bleeding into mine, narrowing the world to that single point of contact.
"So what's up?" I ask.
"You're ghosting me again."
"Just got a lot of work shit on my plate, Liv."
She clocks the evasion clear as day. Before she can probe deeper, I seize her face in both hands, rough enough to demand her gaze lock on mine, thumb pressing her jawline just shy of marking her. I lightly caress her bottom lip with my thumb.
"You good?" I ask, already trying too hard to steer this somewhere easier.
"No, Raul. Fucking no." She bats my grip away, heat rising fast.
"What the fuck is up with you?"
"Seriously?" Her voice fractures upward, raw at the seams.
I hold still, walls up solid.
"I love you, Raul. That's the goddamn problem."
My pulse flatlines. Air vanishes. And right then I'm acutely aware that Dad's truck will rumble in any second, shadows trailing him like smoke.
"Can we talk about this later?"
"No. Now."
"Jesus, Liv. What the fuck?"
"I'm over this 'just friends' lie. I want everything. I want all of you."
"Well, I can't fucking give you more. I can't even be your fucking friend."
"What?" She breathes the word out like it hurts.
"You're always in the fucking way. You make everything harder. You're a goddamn distraction I can't afford."
She just stares at me, eyes already glassing over.
Shut up, Raul. Shut up.
"We've never been 'just friends.'" I sneer the words, letting them twist cruel. "You think this is some fairy tale? You're just the girl I fuck when I'm bored. Nothing more."
Her face crumples, but I'm not done. The rage boils over now, spilling out ugly and unstoppable.
"You stick your nose where it doesn't fucking belong. Always pushing, always needing more. Why won't you just leave me the fuck alone? I don't want you here. I don't need you. You don't fucking care. Stop lying to yourself. You're just a piece of shit like everyone else.”
The last words come out in a vicious shout, inches from her face, spit flying.
My heart shatters the second they land.
What the fuck did I just do?
Olivia's eyes flood instant tears, raw hurt carving deep lines into her beautiful face. She doesn't scream back. Doesn't fight. She just stands, trembling, and bolts from the trailer without a word.
Her Bug's tires wail as she fishtails away, taillights vanishing into the dark.
Fuck.
I'm not worthy of her forgiveness. Not worthy of her at all. I just burned the only good thing in my life to ash.
There's only one way to fix this mess now. It'll get me out of her hair and give Diego room to chase his girl. Hopefully he doesn't fuck it up like I just did.
I start drafting the note to my cousin when Dad's truck rumbles into the driveway. His headlights cut through the dusk like knives.
We talk for what feels like hours. Everything laid bare between us. When it ends, he pulls me into a hug. It's brief and firm, the kind that carries more weight than any words.
"Call me as soon as you can, Mijo."
This might be the first time he's ever sounded truly supportive of one of my decisions.
I hope everyone else will forgive me one day. Olivia most of all. She deserves so much better than this life. Better than the scraps I offered her. Better than the monster I just showed her.
Her face haunts me already. Those eyes flooding with tears. That raw, gutted expression when my words finally broke her. The way her whole world collapsed in front of me because I couldn't stop the poison spilling out.
I did that to her. Ripped her open and left her bleeding.
I'm not sure I'll ever forgive myself for it.